An investigative journalist got his hands on the 16th chapter of Brian Wong‘s upcoming book “The Cheat Code“. He said the content is so life-enriching that we must make it public as soon as possible! Wong’s going to be so mad 😀

Here goes …

KNOW YOUR SUPERPOWER! CHEAT 16:

‘Here’s another thing I learned from entering the business world at a ridiculously young age: no matter who you are or what you do in life, you have a superpower—and by that I mean something you do far better than most people. If you’re not using it, you’re crazy.

If I ever interview you for a job, expect me to ask: “What’s your superpower?”

Here’s mine: I’m really good at getting people excited about stuff. That’s my job, and I love it. Or: I love it, and that’s my job. Both are equally true.

I can sit in front of you and make you excited about whatever— just by how I describe it and how I feel. It’s contagious, and you’ll just go, “Wow! That is so cool!”

I do it even when I don’t need to. Can’t help it. That’s just me. And that’s how I know it’s my superpower.

So what’s yours?

You probably already know what it is. If you’re hesitating, it’s probably just because we live in an era of fake humility and you don’t want to look arrogant. But confident people aren’t arrogant. They don’t need to be.

Don’t be afraid to know your superpower and name it. Nobody will mind. We’re all looking for all the help we can get.

I learned my first superpower from my mother, when I was a kid playing hockey. My mom took me to practice, stuck around and watched, and helped me see my strengths and weaknesses. She taught me to hone my strengths into veritable superpowers, and how to play away from my weaknesses.

In the early years, I could compete with almost anybody, but then all the guys started getting big and muscular, and I stayed average in size. My mom said, “That’s your new strength. Speed. Agility. Wits.”

It wasn’t the mainstream style, but it kept me in the game and taught me a huge life lesson: Don’t try to fix your weaknesses. Build your strengths—and make one into a superpower.

This lesson has served me well time and time again. Long before I quit hockey, I looked around for other things I loved and was good at, and realized I was good with computers and had an eye for design. So I downloaded a program on graphic design. I taught myself how in no time.

Remember, we’re in the golden age of do-it-yourself learning.

You don’t need a certificate or degree to actually know something—just a little aptitude and the willingness to give something a try.

So I got pretty good at design, but my design work never got perfect. Yet I kept trying. Big mistake. I did quite a bit of the design in my first two companies, and I started to feel good about my skills—until I met one of my current partners, Amadeus Demarzi, an interaction designer who worked at a hot design agency called Sequence. Amadeus blew me away. Design was his superpower. That’s when I realized it wasn’t mine. So I told him, “You do the design stuff, and I’ll build the business side of the company.”

This was an easy decision and turned out to be one of the best I ever made. Moral of the story: When you divide tasks according to strengths, amazing things happen—fast.

It’s fine not to be good at everything. People who have mad talents at one thing usually suck at something else. That’s just how the brain works. Think about the bad handwriting of doctors and engineers—they’re famous for marginal manual dexterity, but have huge brains for spatial reasoning and long-term memory.

If I spent all day trying to excel at design, I’d be wasting my brainpower. It makes a million times more sense for me to focus on channelling my superpower toward getting potential clients, partners, and investors excited about our business.

Do what you’re best at. It’s what you love. And better yet, it creates what people call a virtuous cycle. Love it more, do it more—get even better!

You’ll free up more time to be a better human being. You’ll have more fun. You’ll create excellence. Superpowers are what set the superheroes apart from everyone else. What’s yours?’

Disclaimer: We’re only kidding about the ‘leak’. Brian Wong and his team gave us permission to publish this chapter as a taster of his latest book. An exclusive interview with Wong is also coming soon. Stay tuned!